Woman sentenced to prison for defrauding Birmingham-based insurance company

A Florida woman was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for defrauding a Birmingham-based insurance company she worked for in Florida, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley announced in a joint statement.

U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. sentenced Diana Bellomo, 29, of Ocala, Fla., on three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud for creating and submitting 259 fake insurance applications to her employer, Liberty National Life Insurance Company, between March and July 2010, according to the statement. She is scheduled to report to prison Sept. 29.

Bellomo, who was managing the company's Lake Worth, Fla., branch, received $83,814 in commissions on policies Liberty National issued on the fraudulent applications. Smith ordered Bellomo to pay restitution in that amount and to forfeit the same amount to the government as proceeds of illegal activity.

Bellomo had pleaded guilty to the fraud charges in December.

According to the statement, which cites court documents, Bellomo identified three companies in North Palm Beach, Fla., and submitted insurance applications on behalf of fictitious employees of those companies. She would email the applications to Liberty National's Birmingham headquarters. When applications were approved, the company would mail the documents to Florida. Liberty National also sent commission checks to Bellomo via the U.S. Postal Service.